It's about time. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has finally taken down a long-standing barrier to full equality by allowing women soldiers to serve in combat roles.

Female soldiers and Marines have been doing more of this anyway - and keep in mind this move was recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The modern battlefield is not like your grandfather's combat in World War II. More and more fighting is taking place with smaller units in places with fewer civilians.

Women can serve in these units quite capably. In fact, they can provide an advantage by interrogating or searching female suspects in ways that would create more problems if done by male soldiers.

Today's military is all-volunteer anyway. No woman will be forced to do anything she doesn't want to.

But those who want to serve their country and put their lives on the front lines should not be held back by their gender.

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ANOTHER VIEW: Combat demands male warriors

Military combat doesn't care about political correctness. It's a brutal, nasty business, unimaginably different from the nonviolent civilian life that most people experience. In many ways - physical, psychological, social - this maelstrom is best-suited for men and all-male units.

Women have been serving our military with distinction for decades, and no one should ever underestimate their courage or patriotism. But if our commander in chief was planning to drop this bomb - which few women were seeking - he should have done so before the election.

Allowing women into combat will lessen our military's fighting ability and introduce battlefield problems that do not need to exist. No country has ever felt the need to involve women soldiers in direct combat, even when its very survival was at stake.

We have now become the first to undertake this experiment, and it means that men and women will be wounded or killed unnecessarily.

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